Suchergebnisse

After Emperor Taisho died in 1926, he was replaced on the throne by his son Hirohito, who took the motto of the reign 'Showa' (昭和, Enlightened World). The Showa period (1926–1989) was the longest era in Japanese history. The article deals with the four offices of 1927–1931 on the eve of the Manchurian incident of 1931 These are the offices of Tanaka Giichi (April 20, 1927 — July 2, 1929), Hamaguchi Osachi (July 2, 1929 — April 14, 1931), Wakatsuki Reijiro (April 14 — December 13, 1931), and Inukai Tsuyoshi (December 13, 1931 — May 16, 1932). The Inukai cabinet became the last "party" cabinet. The political situation in the country has changed significantly, and Japan entered a new political era, when in the period from 1932 to 1945 the cabinet was headed mainly by the military. The Manchurian incident of 1931, as well as the events that followed, marked the beginning of the capture of Manchuria by Japan and the foreshadowing of World War II. Japan occupied the northeastern part of China and restored the power of the Manchu Qing dynasty in the newly formed state of Manchukuo. In fact, Manchukuo did not play an independent role in the international arena and in domestic politics, any restrictions on the development of Japanese enterprises disappeared, all the resources of Manchuria were now open for use by Japan. Manchukuo was completely controlled by Japan, completely followed its policy and became a springboard for Japan to attack China.

The West Ukrainian city of Lviv is often described as a "cradle", or "hotbed", of Ukrainian nationalism, within a broader media-spread narrative that counter-opposes Ukraine's allegedly "nationalistic West" and so-called "pro-Russian East". The article questions this quasi-binary opposition at the both formal-logical and substantive level, and examines the factors that informed and still tend to support the "nationalistic" image of the region. It finds out no data-based evidence of a higher level of xenophobia or intolerance in Western Ukraine if compared with other Ukrainian regions or some neighboring states, and concludes that the primary reason for the "nationalistic" othering of the city of Lviv and the Western Ukraine was their defiance of the Soviet rule, Soviet norms and values in the post-WWII period. That defiance had many forms but the most manifestly observable was a brazen free use of Ukrainian in the urban environment, deemed "nationalistic" and stigmatized elsewhere in Ukraine. The article draws on the earlier observations of close connection between Ukrainian identity (nationalism) and pro-Western orientation (set of values), determined by a peculiar development of the Ukrainian national project since its very inception in the first half of the 19th century. The higher patriotic mobilization in Lviv (and in Western Ukraine in general) is seen as the main reason for a higher level of social optimism and apparently exaggerated assessments of personal well-being in Lviv vis-à-vis Ukraine's average. Nowadays, West Ukrainians and the denizens of Lviv face a difficult dual task: to tackle their burdensome "nationalistic" image and to play the self-assigned role of Ukrainian "Piedmont" that leads both the national revival and social modernization. The emphasis on the latter, the essay implies, might be a good key to the successful managing of the former. Key words: Lviv, Western Ukraine, nationalism, xenophobia, propagandistic othering and stereotyping.

The article deals with mythological characters that represent 'bad weather' phenomena such as drought, hail, whirlwind, thunder, and lightning. Folk 'lower' mythology pays much attention to the manifestations of bad weather, which reflects the understanding of nature by man. Many ancient Chinese myths and legends originated in Shandong province, where numerous meteorological mythological motives were created. At that time, human life depended on weather, therefore a lot of folklore rich in meteorological mythological motives and imagery was created. The representations of bad weather in Shandong province studied in the paper are based on Chinese literature related to ancient mythology. As to Serbian culture, it has accumulated the beliefs of various ethnic groups of the Balkans. The Serbian cultural and linguistic space has strong ties with adjacent folk traditions – Bulgarian, Montenegrin, Bosnian, Herzegovinian, etc. Accordingly, Serbian mythology reflects the culture of the Balkan Slavs. The article analyzes common and individual features in mythologies concerning unfavorable weather conditions in Shandong and Serbia. The etymology of the names, myths and legends associated with the characters personifying 'bad weather' phenomena is investigated. The connection with local rituals, customs and ethnoculture of Shandong province and Serbia is indicated. The study is based on the methods of the Moscow ethnolinguistic school and the materials presented in the ethnolinguistic dictionary Slavic Antiquities. The paper discusses the isofunctionality of the Chinese and Serbian mythology of bad weather. The purpose of this study is to supplement the cultural and linguistic picture of bad weather phenomena through involving data from two unrelated cultures at the level of mythological memory.